Beware! The Web is Haunted!

...there are innumerable ghostwriters hovering around the World Wide Web.

Have you ever heard of a ghostwriter? Spooky as it sounds, there are innumerable ghostwriters hovering around the World Wide Web. They are difficult to spot, and yet they write most of the content you read. Now, before this get's bizarre, let's try to do some explaining.

Who is a Ghostwriter?

A ghostwriter is a commercial writer who writes on behalf of another person. You pay the ghostwriter and the copyrights become yours.

Whom do Ghostwriters write for?

Ghostwriters write for celebrities, online marketers and even for bloggers. Most celebrities have their personal blogs. However, they do not write for these blogs. They hire ghostwriters to write their blog posts on their behalf. Fans respond to these blog posts knowing little that the celebrity rarely glances at the blog.

So, if you are following that well known personality, guess who's writing the tweets.

Why do people hire Ghostwriters?

Some people have great ideas, but the lack writing skill. Others are good at writing but lack the time. Hiring a ghostwriter can help you add new content to your blog or website, and maintain your readers' interest.This means more visitors, and ultimately, more income. No wonder some people invoke the services of ghosts, I mean ghostwriters.

What else do Ghostwriters write?

Ghostwriters write web content, autobiographies, marketing newsletters, ezines,books, novels, forums,reviews, social networking posts and yes, even tweets. So, if you are following that well known personality, guess who's writing the tweets.

Is it ethical to hire a Ghostwriter?

Ghostwriting is one type of outsourcing, and no industry can do without outsourcing. Therefore ghostwriting is a perfectly acceptable practice.

At the moment, I don't see the need for hiring a ghostwriter. I love to write my blog posts, even though I don't write frequently. I'll think about hiring a ghostwriter the day I make tons of money from my blog and the day I'm too busy to write.

Would you hire a Ghostwriter to write your blog?

Let's discuss...

-ContentScoop

How Useful is Your Site Traffic?

You spend hours trying to drive traffic to your site.

Think about this: 
How useful is your site traffic?
Does voluminous traffic really matter?
Do your visitors bring in the business?
Do they serve the purpose of your blog?

Please leave your valuable comments.

3 Questions to Ask When Your Blog Puts You to Sleep

I believe that blogging should come naturally.

The In Thing
Blogging seems to be the in thing. Everyone wants to own a blog, whether they are students, entrepreneurs, parents or grandparents. Why not? Blogging has become as easy and entertaining as picking up your guitar and strumming on it. It can be a hobby- something that keeps you occupied for hours (beware though!).

The Rut
No matter how much on the blogging edge you are, there are times you fall off the edge and into a rut. You may begin to be in need of new things to write. At times such as these, your own blog posts may put you to sleep.

If you are pushing yourself too hard to write your blog posts,
you will soon tire yourself and your readers.

How to Get Out of the Rut
How do you go about maintaining your enthusiasm to keep on writing? Well, the truth is that YOU DON'T HAVE TO! I believe that blogging should come naturally. If you are pushing yourself too hard to write your blog posts, you will soon tire yourself and your readers.

Anyway, we are all human! So, should you find yourself gasping for new content, here are 3 QUESTIONS you can ask yourself:

Your talent must dictate your niche

THE 3 QUESTIONS
Question #1: What is the Aim of My Blog?
If you are blogging aimlessly, and just for the heck of it, you will soon fall asleep on your laptop.

Here are some things that your blog (or your blog posts) can do;
- Inspire (I love to do this)
- Entertain (I use my cartoons to entertain)
- Educate
- Provide solutions
- Share what you have learned
- Earn an income (I believe that this is a bye product of blogging)

If you think you do not possess that gift,

you have not yet explored your inner self.

Question #2: What am I good at?
Your blog is a good platform to display your talents. Everyone has that unique gift that they can show to the world. Your talent must dictate your niche. If you think you do not possess that gift, you have not yet explored your inner self.

Here are some talents that your blog can reflect:
- Writing (that's my gift)
- Photography
- Blogging
- Marketing
- Cartooning (that's my gift)
- Parenting
- Educating (that's my gift and my main source of income)

(This list can go on...)

Note: I did not mention "making money" in the talent list. This is because if you are doing what you do best, you WILL make money.

Question #3: How Can I Benefit from Blogging?

Draw your zeal from the benefits of blogging. Realizing the benefits will keep you in a positive frame of mind and prevent you from snoozing over your blog posts.

Three main benefits for blogging are:

- Being able to express yourself (this definitely is a stress buster)

- Gaining online exposure to what you have to say or sell

- Building a community of like minded people from around the world

So gear up! Allow your readers to enjoy some lighter moments! Brighten up someone's day; give someone some answers; make someone smile! 

- ContentScoop

The Joy of Reconnecting with Old Friends!

What a joy it is
to reconnect with your long lost friends
after you've meandered around life's uncertain turns

The Journey Called Life
Life is a journey, and everyone would agree to it. You embark on this journey as soon as you realize that you've got to be doing something with your life, lest you are left staring back in time wondering, "What have I done with my life?"

Life's All About People
As you journey through life, you come in contact with innumerable people, some whom you are unreasonably stuck with, and others whom you couldn't help but let go. Be it because of ambition, or your quest for your daily bread- you may have had to part with your best friends. The void remained for long- in fact, it may linger on even today.

The Joy of Reconnecting
What a joy it is to reconnect with your long lost friends after you've meandered around life's uncertain turns. How interesting it is to learn about all that they've been up to, and to find out about what they've learned and achieved so far. This reunion has been made possible by many social networking sites. No wonder these social networking sites are ruling the online roost!

My Social Networking Reunion

I experienced the same reunion when I joined Facebook last year. I suddenly found my friends whom I had left behind as long as 20 years ago. It was great to see how they looked; how their homes looked; how many children they had and how they lives their lives. What an experience!

Life is all about relationships-
the less self seeking the better.

Some friends amazingly maintained their youth, whereas others were getting older. Nevertheless, the response that I got from them made me feel that time may outwardly beat upon you, but it's your inward resilience that matters.

What You Can Do on Facebook
Facebook is a social networking site that allows you to search for friends using their names or email addresses. You can send invitations to them. Once they accept your invitation, you can view their "Wall posts," their photos, their notes, their links and videos. You can chat, create groups and join other groups. You can also throw up a party and request a R.S.V.P.

Some connect for pleasure;
some for friendship;
others, for companionship
and still others, for business.

The Purpose Of a Relationship
Life is all about relationships- the less self seeking the better. Relationships are the treasures you collect on your way to your destination. However, every relationship has a purpose, or it would fade.

What's your purpose for linking up with others?

Some connect for pleasure; some for friendship; others, for companionship and still others, for business.

No matter what your reason may be, every once in a while

- tell someone how much you appreciate them

- ask them if you could do something for them

- find out how you could work together to make a difference to the world around

Ponder on this: 

Are your online friendships the end in themselves, or are they just means to a moneymaking end?

-ContentScoop

The Power of a Few Words- My Take on Microblogging and Micro URLs

Everything's going micro,
from handhelds to laptops,
and now blogs and URLs have joined the trend.

Microblogging

Just when I began to enjoy blogging on my blogger account, someone introduced me to microblogging. The world's getting faster, I tell you,...and smaller.

Everything's going micro, from handhelds to laptops, and now blogs and URLs have joined the trend.

(For those quick readers, it's fine to scroll down to the last few paragraphs of this article)

I'm a writer. I  love to write long and well organized blog posts. However, with microblogging, my words are restricted to just 140 to 150 characters.

"140 characters?" I thought to myself. What in the world can I write using just 140 characters! All my inhibitions faded away once I started using Twitter- the name that  has become synonymous with microblogging and social networking.

Just a few days into Twitter
and I figured out
the power of those 140 characters.

Micro Social Networking

Facebook allows you a lot of activity on its turf. You can be a part of as many "stories" as you like. Your posts are not very much restricted and you can write volumes on your "notes." You can upload your pictures directly from your camera onto the site, and you can comment on your friend's pictures. You can create your own group and invite all your friends to join it, or you can join another group. That's a lot of disk space allotted to you! However, you've got to be disciplined about whom you invite, and cannot add a "friend" unless they confirm you. This restricts the stray marketer and the intruding moneymaker.

Twitter does not make friendship conditional. You can "follow" anyone you like, unless they block you or "protect" their "tweets." At the same time anyone can be your "follower." It's an open platform for moneymakers and marketers alike, and the same goes for the one who is seeking friends and fans.

Just a few days into Twitter and  I figured out the power of those 140 characters. Almost every day I have "followers" pouring in without much action on my part. Yes, many of them are marketers and do not hesitate to say, "Hello."

Now, there are also ways to add a 100 followers a day; however, I'm still a bit slow at blogging (oops...microblogging), and would not like to delve into that at full steam. I'm not a full time blogger; so whether it is blogs or microblogs, you will see a little activity on my part every now and then.

Note: You may soon see third party contextual ads on Twitter, just like the ones you see on Facebook.

Microblogging has created another need:
the need to shorten URLs.

Micro URLs

Microblogging has created another need: the need to shorten URLs. Most tweeters would like to save on character space, and this is where URL shorteners come in.

Tinyurl has been in business for many years now, helping one to shorten URLs mainly for masking the actual URL. Bit.ly and tr.im have gone a few steps further by shortening the URLs even more. That's not all; you can even post your URLs directly to Twitter with just the click of a mouse. Furthermore, you can get detailed statistics as to how many people have clicked on your newly shortened URL and how it is  performing throughout.

Lessons from Microblogging

That 140 word restriction can teach you a lot:

- to be concise

- to write to the point and not ramble around

- to get the maximum impact from minimum words

- to be restrained in your phraseology and get cracking with business

  

Here's the bottom line:

Twitter has fewer features as compared to facebook, and yet the impact it has been having proves that if you've got to make a point, words need not be many.

So, don't waste your words! There is power in a few words!

-ContentScoop
September 10, 2009

What Just A Click Can Do!

The most shattering effect of war
is when innocent children get caught up in its ruthless mechanisms.

War is one of the most horrendous activities that man has ever transacted. It's devastating effects not only last a lifetime, but for generations to come. The most shattering effect of war is when innocent children  get caught up in its ruthless mechanisms.

How many of us can stomach the sight
of a mother being brutally murdered
and her infant being buried alive?

One of the longest running wars in Africa- the unending 21 year old war between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government- has left millions of innocent children caught in the crossfire- killed, abandoned, separated from their parents and forced to fight!

How many of us can stomach the sight of a mother being brutally murdered and her infant being buried alive?...young children carrying heavy guns and being trained to kill? ...the spate of brutality continues.

Now you don't have to be a helpless spectator!

Here's what you can do:

-Click on the SocialVibe gadget on my blog sidebar

-Rate a video or perform the required action

When the sponsors get advertising exposure, they will donate towards Invisible Children, a movement that helps rescue and educate such ill-fated children.

Kudos to Blogger for introducing the SocialVibe gadget as a part of its 10th Anniversary.

Also, thanks to my friend who made me aware of this. Here's his blog:  letblog.com

Just click on the SocialVibe gadget and spend a few minutes on it. It would cost you nothing! So please do it!

-ContentScoop
September 04, 2009

Jack of All Niches, Master of...?

The Information Highway

The Internet is an information highway. Just when you think you are gaining speed, someone whizzes by you at break neck speed, giving you a complex about how slow you are. Just when you think you are getting there, you are given to understand that you are far from your destination.

If you are not organized at how to get your information,
you may get tossed around like a ping pong ball.

The Place To Be
Nevertheless, the internet is the place to be. Be careful though; there is bucket loads of information being shoved down your throat; more than you can ever swallow or digest. If you are not organized at how to get your information, you may get tossed around like a ping pong ball. So, what niche are you targeting?

There are tons of people teaching you how to do things; many of them selling their wares. Why not? The internet is a place for everyone- the occasional surfer, the online addict, the marketomonger, the moneymaniac, the tecnofreak and the bloggogeek.  

what is the use if I am the jack of all niches
but a master of none?

Where do I stand?

Where do I stand amidst all this online brouhaha? What niche am I targeting? I want to be a blogger, a writer, a marketeer, a money maker, an adviser, a cartoonist, a journalist and a SEO expert. I could possible work myself up to be a jack of all the above mentioned niches. However, what is the use if I am the jack of all niches but a master of none?

HOW TO CHOOSE MY NICHE...

What niche am I targeting? Here are some questions that helped me decide on my niche:

1. What do I enjoy doing?

I am a writer, and this is what I do the best. So I will stick to being a writer whether I successfully manage to promote my blog or not; whether I make money or not; whether my blog and social networks are followed or not.

So whichever niche you choose, choose one that you enjoy going about, be it blogging or making money or writing; something that you will enjoy doing a few years from now.

2. What can I offer to the world?

I believe that I have the ability to give people what they want to read. Now, yes, my posts span a wide range of topics. However, I see to it that what I write is useful to others.

Now most people would love to read about making money. Sorry, I'm not an expert at that right now. I can pretend to be a money making guru, but I'm comfortable with what I genuinely have to offer to the world.

Think of what you have to offer to the world. It could be something as simple as sharing about your daily experiences.

3. Who will my friends be?

I have just begun to "tweet." Now, there are people who follow me (thankfully) on twitter everyday. However, I do not follow all of them (regretfully; I hope they understand), unless they are writers or bloggers (I need them).

Once you choose your niche, you must build your network wisely. It would do you good to choose friends associated with your particular niche.

What niche am I targeting? If you ever have to answer that question, ask yourself the above 3 questions first. 

-ContentScoop
September 03, 2009